CHAPTER 60
Riven
Reflections - The Neighbourhood
The only people who had seen our faces were dead, and the guards chasing us had only caught a glimpse of a man carrying a woman over his shoulder before jumping out of a window.
Once we hit the ground, Evren drove off without even bothering to put me in the passenger seat, he kept me on his lap.
I was still in shock from the jump, and then he drove like a complete maniac, only making it worse.
He just kept laughing, telling me how fucking fabulous it had been to jump from the window and make the platform descend.
I slapped, punched and bit him for scaring me to death with the jump.
He just bit me back.
There are some advantages to being a Laordie even if I hate using it so Ren helped me use my father's access to delete every second of footage from the corridor.
The media is calling it a slaughter, but without any faces to identify, the investigation is at a standstill.
The bruise on my temple from the elite guard has faded from deep purple to sickly green.
But that's not what bothers me.
What bothers me is that I keep dreaming about my heel sticking out of that man's eye.
Like I needed that on top of the nightmares Kyle’s death already left me with.
For a week, Evren kept breaking into my loft in the middle of the night, covered in blood or pacing like a caged animal before eventually coming to lie down beside me, saying absolutely nothing like the damn creep he is, only to disappear again at dawn.
I know because every single morning, he'd leave behind a note with comments about my sleep—how I snored, how I screamed, how my breath stank, how much I drooled all over him... shit like that.
But he hasn't touched me since the ball. I don't know why and I'd rather keep it that way.
I've been a complete wreck since then, the blood, the stabbing, my parents daring to arrange a marriage for me.
The kiss.
That kiss just turned everything upside down, in my head, in my chest.
This morning, I woke up to find a box sitting on my kitchen counter with a note.
Next time you stab someone, do it with a proper weapon. See you, troublemaker.
I can't just get normal gifts, of course not. It has to remind me of what I did to save his ass.
I open the box and freeze. I thought I'd find anything but an actual dagger.
I reach inside and trace a finger along its razor-sharp edge.
It's beautiful.
I lift it from the box and turn it over in my hand, the light glides beneath its transparent crystalline surface.
It feels impossibly light and impossibly strong.
I glance back into the box and notice a small device with a single button.
Press me.
I do.
“Found my gift? You like it? Of course you do.”
Suddenly, Evren's voice fills my loft.
I jump.
There's a brief pause then a dark chuckle.
I swear, he's infuriating.
“I figured since you stabbed a man's eye for my ass with your heel—and those heels already had fucking daggers on them—I might as well buy you a real one.
Now, now, troublemaker... It's made of synth alloy.
Transparent, light, and impossible to break.
I know you probably think I'm insane for giving you something you could use to kill me... or for turning one of your newest traumas into a gift.”
A beat.
“And you'd be right. I am fucking insane.”
“Of course you're insane!” I shout at the box as if he could somehow hear me.
“Anyway, after you finish getting your studio things done and stop touching fucking strangers, come to the garage.”
A pause.
“And don't scream at the box like a fucking hysterical bitch.”
The speaking device lets out a faint pop before exploding in a puff of smoke.
I blink at the box, once, twice.
A deep blush spreads across my entire face.
He knew I'd scream at the box. He knew exactly how I'd react without even being here.
It's embarrassing.
I hurl the dagger in pure frustration, it flies perfectly straight and buries itself in my fridge’s door. My steel fucking fridge.
My eyes widen, I walk around the counter and pull it free.
I turn it over in my hand.
Nothing.
Not a dent, not a scratch, not even a crack—it’s cool but it creeps me out.
“Okay... I'm putting you back in there.”
I walk over to the box.
Before lowering it inside, that's when I see it.
Half-buried beneath the dagger's slot sits something tiny—A little charm.
I pluck it out and my heart stops.
It's a miniature Charger. A perfect replica of the car I destroyed and fixed.
His car.
It's not flawless, it's rough around the edges like it was made by hand.
It is so tiny and so cute.
I place the dagger back in the box, set the little Charger charm beside it, and carefully close the lid.
I step back and let out a shaky breath.
That's new.
The dagger? That's completely Evren but the charm...
It makes my heart pound so hard I feel like it's going to burst out of my chest.
I need to go to work, I need to go to the garage.
I know it’s for the files Ren hacked during the ball.
I can't stay here staring at that box like it just stabbed me straight through the heart.
The garage is exactly as I remember it—men, cars, bikes. The air reeks of sweat, oil, and hot metal.
The moment I step through the door, every head turns toward me.
I wince.
I'm not exactly comfortable with almost twenty men staring at me.
“What?” I bark.
Neo pushes himself up and walks over to me. He looks down at me with a grin.
“He's waiting for you.” He jerks his head toward the office. “Need an escort?”
“Fuck off.” I shoulder past him, stomping away.
Neo chuckles, he barely budges when I slam into him.
I kick Evren's office door open and slam it shut behind me.
Evren is leaning against his desk, arms crossed, no shirt, grease smeared across his face, sweat glistens across his bare torso, his tattoos.
The most distracting tattoo is the one tracing his V-line.
Sleek black cyber-tribal ink rises from each hip in sharp, thorn-like spikes before disappearing beneath the waistband of his pants.
Clearly a direction to what he has in his pants.
My anger evaporates, replaced by the very thing I've been trying to avoid since the ball.
I shake my head, recomposing myself before forcing my eyes to snap back at his face only to find him grinning.
The anger flares back up in an instant.
“A dagger?” I take a step toward him. “A dagger, Evren? After what I did? You can't just fucking give me a—”
In an instant, he's in front of me.
His lips crash against mine with a bruising force that borders on violence.
I push against his chest, but I melt into the kiss almost instantly.
My hands slide from his chest into his hair, tangling in the dark strands before gripping hard enough to sting.
He chuckles against my lips before grunting, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me effortlessly off the floor.
He walks us backward to his desk, sweeps everything onto the floor with one careless swipe, and lowers me onto the edge without ever breaking the kiss.
He bites down hard.
I yelp at the sharp sting, feeling blood flood into my mouth.
He sucks roughly at the wound.
I pull back just enough to breathe, flushed and panting.
A thin strand of saliva mixed with blood stretches between our mouths.
But he doesn't let me catch my breath.
His hand shoots up, gripping my jaw as I instinctively pull away. His tongue flicks out, lapping at the blood on my parted lips while he follows me, chasing my mouth instead of letting me escape.
Finally, he closes the distance again, and our tongues meet with desperate urgency.
I can't think.
I can't push him away.
His hands drift to my throat and my hip, yanking me forward until my body is pressed tightly against his bare chest.
When he finally decides to break the kiss, I don’t even know what to do.
Or say.
Neither of us speaks.
It's Evren who breaks the silence.
“I knew you'd like the dagger.” His voice is low, rough, still breathless.
Before I can tell him no—or scold him for buying it in the first place—the office door swings open.
Ren steps inside, completely unbothered.
I immediately look away, far too embarrassed to be caught being manhandled and kissed by that freak.
“The fuck are you doing?” Evren asks, glaring at Ren as if he'd just murdered someone.
“The files,” Ren replies simply. “But if you'd rather continue your little... thing, I can kick myself out.”
At the mention of the files, I shove Evren away.
The hands that had been resting on my throat and hip tighten for the briefest moment before falling away.
I slide off the desk and walk over to Ren.
“So?” I ask quietly. “Who killed my brother?”
My voice is calm. My hands aren't.
They shake uncontrollably.
My fingers immediately begin fidgeting with my rings.
Evren steps in behind me.
I can feel the murderous aura radiating off him.
His arm snakes around my front and settles across my collarbone, holding me steady.
“Well,” Ren begins, “we got the file open. It took a week, but we finally broke the encryption.”
He pauses.
“There was an anonymous letter.”
I frown.
“Officially, it was an accident. But off the record, the true heir of the Laordie empire was murdered... by accident.”
My brow furrows deeper.
What the hell does that mean?
Murdered by accident?
Ren continues before I can process the words.
“They were planning to kill you, Riven.” He lets the sentence hang in the air.
“The goal was to make your brother submit because he had ties to the Lower Layers.
The letter doesn't say who those ties were with, only that the people behind it hacked the security cameras in your parents' penthouse. They saw you running downstairs... so they changed targets.”
My knees buckle, every drop of blood drains from my body.
Evren's arm tightens around me, holding me upright.
“Professionals, then.” Evren says at last.
Ren nods.
“And nothing else?” Evren asks, his thumb absently tracing slow circles over my shoulder.
“No.” Ren exhales. “The encrypted archive is why it took a week instead of a few hours. There were the Enforcers' reports, the medics' reports... more pictures.”
He pauses.
“Mostly of Kyle's body on the scene and on the examination table.” Silence. “And your parents' testimonies.”
For a long moment, no one speaks.
Evren's hold tightens, I can feel his heartbeat quickening against my back.
Ren avoids looking at me.
All of this... For that.
Nothing that points to the person who orchestrated Kyle's murder.
Just an anonymous bastard who decided to send a letter.
But why? Why now?
“I want to see it.” I rasp, my voice barely above a whisper.
Ren's eyes flick between me and Evren.
After a moment's hesitation, he turns toward the Smart Panel mounted on the wall.
The display flickers to life.
Floating screens bloom into existence as his fingers fly across the interface.
The photographs appear on one screen.
On another, holograms of my parents materialize, their recorded testimonies beginning to play as they describe the ‘accident.’
My knees nearly give out again.
I see Kyle, the drone footage of the crash, the medics' photographs. Me covered in blood but the worst are Kyle's lifeless body photos.
Then his body laid out on the examination table.
I lower my head and bury my face in the crook of Evren's arm.
I can't look at my brother's lifeless body. He already died in my arms. If I look at those pictures, I'm going to break down completely.
And there is no way I'm falling apart here.
I hear my father all of a sudden.
His voice is stoic, but there's a faint edge beneath it and my mother's is broken by quiet sobs.
My father tells the Enforcers that if I'd never run downstairs, none of this would have happened.
Tears well up into my eyes but I refuse to shed them.
I was expecting it, I was expecting my father to blame me.
After all, he's been doing it ever since.
When I finally lift my eyes, Ren has backed away, far away.
I don't understand at first. Why would Ren put so much distance between us?
Then it hits me.
Evren hasn't said a word, he's been far too silent for far too long.
I try to twist out of his hold, it's like struggling against steel.
“Evren,” I gasp. “Let go.”
“No.” He refuses, like always but his voice is too calm.
That flat, controlled tone makes my skin crawl.
“Please.”
He looks down at me.
Then, with stiff, almost mechanical movements, he opens his arm and lets me go.
“Riven,” Ren says, extending a hand toward me. “Come here. Now.”
My gaze flicks from Ren's outstretched hand to Evren's unnervingly calm face.
He moves.
I yelp as Ren's hand clamps around my wrist, yanking me away just in time.
Evren's fist slams through the wall where the Smart Panel is mounted, obliterating the screen projecting my father's face.
The whole thing lasts five seconds by the time it's over, half the wall is destroyed.
“Now,” He slowly turns toward us and starts stalking in my direction. “Take your hands off her.”
Ren releases my wrist instantly.
For the briefest moment, I feel the cool air against the spot where Ren's hand had been.
Then Evren's warmth replaces it.
He closes the distance between us in two long strides and looks down at me.
His eyes search my face.
They glow.
But beneath the light, they're darkened by what I now recognize for what it is, murderous rage.
I simply look back up at him, taking in the scar crossing his lips, on his eyebrow that is still a little raw, the red streaks in his hair.
Slowly, I raise my hand and cup the side of his face where there isn't an implant, my thumb brushing over his skin.
After seeing him destroy the panel where my father was blaming me, I can't just stand here pretending it didn’t make my heart melt a little.
It's strange how people work, I still hate him, still think he's a psychopathic murderer, a reckless bastard and a fucking monster.
But he's real.
He's the monster I chose to stay beside and fight with.
“You're stupid,” I murmur softly. “Thank you.”
His entire body goes rigid, his breathing quickens and his eyes narrow.
“For what?” he grits out.
His free hand comes up and covers mine.
“For destroying my father's hologram, for helping me with my brother, for the charm.” I pause, a small smile finding my lips. “Thank you for being you.”